So everyone has different priorities on vacation.  For me it really is determined by where I am.  If I’ve been to place before I tend to go to a few familiar places and see what has changed.  If I’m in Asheville, NC (even just passing through) you’ll find me at the Barley Tap Room having a pizza.  But I know that places change, I just look at the area I live in and remember when I was surrounded by farms not strip malls.  So I will take a moment to explore even the familiar places I have been.  In the case of Maui the last time I was there I was maybe 9 or 10 so I don’t recall much.  As I explored I think I saw some things that were strangely familiar.  The thing that was interesting was as Sue and I returned from a day of exploring the rest of family (who we were constantly reminded) had been here multiple times- had no idea about where we had been.  “Where is the pizza place you ate at last night?” Across the street- it’s been there for at least three years.

So Sue and I went exploring (and caching).  My secret goal was to reach my 700th cache on the island since my 600th was in England.  I have always said that I don’t worry about the numbers, or challenges, I do want to make sure my milestone caches are special (either in location, or the cacher who placed it).  No such luck this time and I was not going to ruin beautiful days by turning them into long marches.

As for the rest of the family… it was hard to tell what they were doing.  My brother and nephew (with my dad and one day my sister in-law) did go through SCUBA basics and enjoyed a couple trips around the reefs.  Sue and I were invited to join them but decided to just enjoy some leisurely snorkeling since Sue in the past hadn’t really snorkeled anywhere in which you could see fish and it was amazing.  There were days of shopping trips… it seems that in Southern California everyone wears Hawaiian shirts so it was time to stock up.  My big purchase- a ukulele… but I’m sure we’ll get to that later.

As far as this comic and my parents… my mom wasn’t feeling great (but amazingly enough she was fine when the plane landed in L.A.) and my dad could not let anyone handle a “crisis” back home so he spent many hours on his laptop.  I always feel that if you spend the money- do what you want.  If you want to go to Hawaii and spend most of the time in your room doing what you could at home, that’s your call- I’ll choose to use my resources in other ways.  Like someone once said to their disgruntled teenager at Disneyworld “We spent a lot of money to be here and you will have fun!”  True story.

Are We in Paradise Now?
Posted on August 24, 2009 by Bruce
So everyone has different priorities on vacation.  For me it really is determined by where I am.  If I've been to place before I tend to go to a few familiar places and see what has changed.  If I'm in Asheville, NC (even just passing through) you'll find me at the Barley Tap Room having a pizza.  But I know that places change, I just look at the area I live in and remember when I was surrounded by farms not strip malls.  So I will take a moment to explore even the familiar places I have been.  In the case of Maui the last time I was there I was maybe 9 or 10 so I don't recall much.  As I explored I think I saw some things that were strangely familiar.  The thing that was interesting was as Sue and I returned from a day of exploring the rest of family (who we were constantly reminded) had been here multiple times- had no idea about where we had been.  "Where is the pizza place you ate at last night?" Across the street- it's been there for at least three years. So Sue and I went exploring (and caching).  My secret goal was to reach my 700th cache on the island since my 600th was in England.  I have always said that I don't worry about the numbers, or challenges, I do want to make sure my milestone caches are special (either in location, or the cacher who placed it).  No such luck this time and I was not going to ruin beautiful days by turning them into long marches. As for the rest of the family... it was hard to tell what they were doing.  My brother and nephew (with my dad and one day my sister in-law) did go through SCUBA basics and enjoyed a couple trips around the reefs.  Sue and I were invited to join them but decided to just enjoy some leisurely snorkeling since Sue in the past hadn't really snorkeled anywhere in which you could see fish and it was amazing.  There were days of shopping trips... it seems that in Southern California everyone wears Hawaiian shirts so it was time to stock up.  My big purchase- a ukulele... but I'm sure we'll get to that later. As far as this comic and my parents... my mom wasn't feeling great (but amazingly enough she was fine when the plane landed in L.A.) and my dad could not let anyone handle a "crisis" back home so he spent many hours on his laptop.  I always feel that if you spend the money- do what you want.  If you want to go to Hawaii and spend most of the time in your room doing what you could at home, that's your call- I'll choose to use my resources in other ways.  Like someone once said to their disgruntled teenager at Disneyworld "We spent a lot of money to be here and you will have fun!"  True story.

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